First Amendment's Belt and Suspenders Protection of Religious Speech

 From Justice Gorsuch's majority opinion in Kennedy:

 Now before us, Mr. Kennedy renews his argument that the District’s conduct violated both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment. These Clauses work in tandem. Where the Free Exercise Clause protects religious exercises, whether communicative or not, the Free Speech Clause provides overlapping protection for expressive religious activities. That the First Amendment doubly protects religious speech is no accident. It is a natural outgrowth of the framers’ distrust of government attempts to regulate religion and suppress dissent.

 

Every day there are examples of government officials attempting to silence religious speech by students, teachers, government employees, and ordinary citizens.  The First Amendment provides belt and suspenders protection when government restricts religious expression.